The present invention relates generally to television systems, and more particularly, to the display of, and recording control interface with, television programs, video, advertising information and program scheduling information.
Television viewers have historically analyzed the information provided by television program schedule guides to select television programs to watch. Historically, television program schedule guides have listed the available television programs by day of the week, time of day, channel, and program title. Historically, only hardcopy television program schedule guides were available. More recently, as illustrated by the Levine Patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,908,713, television program guides have become available in electronic form.
The earliest versions of on-screen electronic program guides (xe2x80x9cEPGxe2x80x9d) provided for the storage of program schedule information in an electronic memory connected to the television receiver and generally provided for the on-screen formatting and display of the program schedule information on the television screen. The early EPGs typically overlaid the television programming. Furthermore, viewer interaction capabilities with early EPGs was extremely limited.
Later EPGs provided viewer-to-EPG interaction improvements and provided Picture-In-Guide (xe2x80x9cPIGxe2x80x9d) display of the television program simultaneous with the display of the EPG. International Application No. PCT/US95/11173 (International Publication No. WO 96/07270), the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein for all purposes, illustrates such an improvement.
The present invention is an improvement over previous EPGs in that it provides, among other things:
A. Improved viewer interaction capabilities with the EPG;
B. Improved viewer control of video recording of future-scheduled programming;
C. Improved features to the EPG display and navigation;
D. Parental control of the EPG display;
E. Improved television program information access by the viewer;
F. Improved opportunities for the commercial advertiser to reach the viewer;
G. Improved product information access by the viewer;
H. Creation of a viewer""s profile;
I. Utilization of viewer profile information to customize various aspects of the EPG; and J. Utilization of viewer profile information to provide customized presentation of advertising to the viewer.